No. 123.] REPORT OF COMMISSIONER. 47 



food products. This fund was handled by the Food Adminis- 

 tration under the direction of the Governor and Council 

 (Resolves, chapters 63 and 139). 



Legislation of permanent nature comprised the following: 

 an act authorizing the State Department of Agriculture to offer 

 prizes for competitive agricultural exhibits (General Acts, 

 chapter 241); the act creating the State Department of Agri- 

 culture (General Acts, chapter 268) ; an act providing a method 

 for the co-operative drainage of swamp lands (General Acts, 

 chapter 289); an act to reorganize the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural College (General Acts, chapter 262); an act to re- 

 organize the county farm bureaus (General Acts, chapter 273); 

 an act to establish Smith's Agricultural School (Special Acts, 

 chapter 151); and an act to provide reimbursement for owners 

 of berry bushes which were destroyed by the State during the 

 campaign against the white pine blister rust (General Acts, 

 chapter 215). 



A number of amendments were made to existing law. ' These 

 included an increase in the fine in the apple grading law 

 (General Acts, chapter 169); broadening of the powers of the 

 State Nursery Inspector (General Acts, chapter 193) ; an amend- 

 ment to the milk grading law (General Acts, chapter 220) ; an 

 amendment changing the fee in the fertilizer law from a fixed 

 fee to a tonnage tax (General Acts, chapter 220); an amend- 

 ment to the law on the requarantining of animals (General 

 Acts, chapter 39); an amendment to the law allowing prison 

 labor to be used for agricultural purposes on county farms 

 (General Acts, chapter 159); and amendment empowering 

 county commissioners to appoint dog officers (General Acts, 

 chapter 271). 



The State Board of Agriculture and the State Department of 

 Health, acting jointly, were authorized to investigate the peat 

 deposits of the Commonwealth (Resolves, chapter 49), and a 

 special recess committee of the Legislature was authorized to 

 investigate the sheep industry and the agricultural laws of the 

 State. 



The following legislation which was introduced by the Board 

 failed of passage: an act to create a bureau of markets; an 

 amendment to the mill acts to permit the damming of streams 



